Kings don’t lie

In Pakistan, people have lost faith in their political leaders, seen in the narrative around Kulsoom Nawaz

Of the many reasons that led to the French Revolution, people losing faith in Louis XVI is perhaps the most prominent one. Interestingly, this was not only due to his repressive economic and tax policies, or lavish lifestyle while people suffered under a famine. This was instead due to his disastrous attempt to flee Paris with his family while the protesters stood outside his palace pleading for help.

When he was caught in the town of Varennes and sent back to Paris, it is noted that people were in a state of shock and overcome by feelings of abandonment. The king had broken the trust of the people — and nothing could mend that. We face a similar situation in Pakistan where people have lost faith in their political leaders and the system.

Nowhere is this more obvious than the narrative around the tragic health condition of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz. Paid trolls calling it a ‘staged act’ is one thing but highly educated professionals in Pakistan and those living abroad questioning such a tragedy reflects not the ignorance of these people, but the loss of their faith in the political establishment.

The question we must ask is; how did our people get to this level of insensitivity and what it means for the future?

For decades, these leaders have collectively taken turns to lie and deceive the common people in Pakistan. In just past one year, from claiming to have no properties in Pakistan to confessing to own properties worth billions, Maryam Nawaz has demonstrated how easily the political establishment can lie to the people and get away with it. The fact that she is allowed to run for the elections is a failure of democracy.

Nawaz Sharif too in his ‘great struggle for democracy’ took to rallies lying to the people that he was kicked out of the PM office because of the salary that he never received. Turns out, he did receive the salary as recently confirmed by his lawyer. If the lies were only based around personal finances and wealth, people might have still given the political leaders the benefit of doubt, but when there is an established record of faking health to deflect justice, media attention and galvanise public support you’ve brought people down to a point where they question everything.

Take Ishaq Dar, a fugitive unable to come to Pakistan to stand trial because of health conditions and yet he is captured in a video walking in the streets of London in apparently good health. Gen Musharraf, another fugitive who dodged the courts several times to instead land in army hospitals declared unfit for a trial. Nehal Hashmi, a political stuntman, celebrated by Maryam Nawaz, also had a heart attack the moment he was punished by the courts to serve prison time. These are only a few political health stunts in the past few years; there are hundreds of similar cases throughout our recent history.

The truth is, as a political leader you lie once, the people will question your truths until eternity. Especially, when your moral degradation allows you to lie about health, expect the people to respond from the same moral standing. There is, hence, a reason why the leaders are supposed to be held accountable on highest moral and ethical grounds and must step down when caught lying or cheating. If the top leadership of a country is rotten and corrupt, it corrupts the common man with him. When the common man is corrupted, the days of political leaders are only numbered. It is a sort of the divine cycle of moral cleansing.

With no trust in the political establishment, the country is in a free fall. We are going to hit, that is for sure. How hard and to what damage is the question?

Let political leaders be reminded that when madness takes over, the first to go down are those in power.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.